Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series ​is an episodic video game based on the HBO television series, released in 2014 and consists of six episodes.[1] It is being developed in conjunction with HBO by Telltale Games, developers of the critically praised video game spinoffs for The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. The game was announced on Twitter on December 8, 2013.[2] The game was released on December 2, 2014 for PC/Mac and PlayStation 4, on December 3rd for Xbox One and Xbox 360, on December 4th for iOS, and on December 9th for PlayStation 3.[3] Each episode costs $4.99 (£3.99) or $24.99 (£19.99) for the season pass.

Telltale founder and CEO Dan Connors said in an interview at VGX 2013:

"We're just really getting into it right now and thinking about the right characters, and who has the most at stake, and who has the most to do, and who has the biggest impact on the world … ‘Cause, you know, we're so much about consequence, and “Game of Thrones” is so much about big consequence."

Contents

The main characters are from House Forrester. The Forresters are a family of the minor nobility from the Wolfswood in the North, bannermen to House Glover - who are in turn themselves major vassals sworn to House Stark of Winterfell. The seat of House Forrester is Ironrath, an imposing stronghold in the forest surrounded by ironwood trees. Their House words are "Iron from Ice", echoing their belief that the severe cold and hostile landscape of the North only make them stronger.[4]

House Forrester does actually exist in the novels, and they are a minor House in the Wolfswood who serve as vassals to House Glover. However they were only mentioned in passing once and its current members were not described: "...guides Lady Sybell [Glover] had given them, trackers and hunters sworn to Deepwood with clan names like Forrester and Woods, Branch and Bole." (A Dance With Dragons, Chapter 42) With no details given about its current members in the novels, this gives the video game a blank canvas to fill new characters with.

The events in the game series generally coincide with Season 4, beginning towards the end of Season 3 and ending just before Season 5 begins.[5]

Players will visit familiar locations such as King's Landing and the Wall, as well as unfamiliar locations such as Ironrath, the home of House Forrester. The game will be played from five different points of view. Each character you play as is a member of House Forrester; either a direct family member, or a person in service to the House. Scattered across Westeros and Essos, each character will play their part in seeking to save House Forrester from destruction. Playing as five characters not only reflects the epic scope of Game of Thrones, but is also something that the player needs to be mindful of. This is because the actions of one character can ripple out to affect the rest of House Forrester.[5]

Actors from the main Game of Thrones TV series will reprise their roles for the video game, providing voice-acting for the in-game appearances of their characters, including Lena Headey (Cersei), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion), Natalie Dormer (Margaery), and Iwan Rheon (Ramsay). Other actors and characters from the main TV series will appear in later episodes.

In the social structure of the Seven Kingdoms, there are usually only nine Great Houses, such as the Starks or Lannisters, that rule entire regions ("seven" kingdoms, plus the Riverlands which are a borderland region, plus the capital region of the Crownlands). Each Great House has about a dozen or so major noble Houses immediately sworn to them. In the North, these include House Umber, House Manderly, House Karstark, and House Glover, among others. All told this means that there are a little over one hundred major noble Houses in Westeros, almost all of which have been accounted for in the novels. However, each of the major noble Houses also have their own minor noble Houses that serve them as local bannermen. For example, House Cassel is a local minor House in direct service to the Starks, not one of the major noble Houses like the Umbers (George R.R. Martin has said that in retrospect, he should have used distinct terms for the three different ranks of nobles, such as "duke" and "baron", instead of each holding the rank of "Lord"). Given that each major noble House has a couple of minor Houses serving as local bannermen, there are apparently hundreds of minor Houses which have never been mentioned in the novels, with the main novel mostly focusing on the large-scale conflicts between entire kingdoms.

Essentially, the video game is focusing on a representative "everyman" minor House, to show how the War of the Five Kings is impacting people on a local level.

Westeros is a large continent (often said to be roughly the size of South America), not simply one country, so the unified realm under the Iron Throne is on the scale of the Roman Empire, and each constituent kingdom such as "the North" is the size of an entire real-life medieval country, with armies numbering in the tens of thousands. Major Houses such as the Umbers or Karstarks can raise armies from their combined minor bannermen numbering in the low thousands. Minor noble Houses who are bannermen to the others have forces numbering in the hundreds at most.

This new story, set in the world of HBO’s award-winning TV series tells of House Forrester, a noble family from the North of Westeros, loyal to the Starks of Winterfell. Caught up in the events surrounding the War of the Five Kings, they are thrown into a maelstrom of bloody warfare, revenge, intrigue, and horror as they fight to survive while the Seven Kingdoms tear themselves apart. You will take on the role of different members of the Forrester household, and determine their fate through the choices you make; your actions and decisions will change the story around you.

House Forrester is in disarray. Their liege lord and his heir are dead, and Ironrath is occupied by Whitehill soldiers. The survival of the family depends upon those who are left. Placed at King’s Landing, the epicenter of intrigue, Mira Forrester must weigh her loyalty to Margaery Tyrell against the needs of her family, while choosing how to play the political games of Tyrion Lannister. One misstep could spell doom for Mira and her entire family. To the far north, Gared Tuttle finds that the Wall and its crows hold little love for a squire from the Wolfswood, but finds kinship in the bastardson of Ned Stark. Gared must prove worthy of becoming a ranger in order to carry out the mission given him; one that is vital to the future of those he serves. To the east, Asher Forrester, the exiled son, is called back to Westeros to aid his family, but how can one man help when the Boltons rule the north with an iron fist? Meanwhile, an unexpected source of hope returns to the Forresters, but Ironrath is no place for the weak.

Asher, the exile, heads to Meereen in search of an army to take on the Whitehills. Meanwhile, far across land and sea in Westeros, Mira must deal with the lethal politics of King's Landing. Her family's safety is paramount and she will do anything to protect them, but nothing is given freely, and her choice of allies may soon come to haunt her. To the north, in Ironrath, the Whitehill occupation continues. Gryff Whitehill, fourth-born son, is out to prove himself, and brutality and violence grows daily, pushing the Forresters to make far-reaching decisions. Finally, at the Wall, Gared learns that he must head north if he is to help his house survive. But fate is cruel, forcing choices that will change his path forever.

The fate of the scattered Forresters hangs in the balance, and no one allied with the family is safe. An unexpected meeting offers Rodrik a new opportunity to free Ironrath from its Whitehill stranglehold, but with young Ryon Forrester still held prisoner, his next moves are critical. Gared must abandon Castle Black and venture beyond the Wall in search of the mysterious North Grove, risking encounters with Wildlings and worse. In King's Landing, the population is reeling from a recent royal death, and Mira must step carefully in an increasingly complex game of politics where secrets are traded as currency. Far away in Essos, Asher infiltrates the slave city of Meereen at the behest of Daenerys Targaryen, but will the friendship he holds dear break under the strain of a mission that raises memories best forgotten?

In this penultimate episode, the actions of every Forrester are vital to the survival of the house. Rodrik's alliance with House Glenmore, and his defiance of the Whitehillshas drawn the ire of an even greater threat: Ramsay Snow. Far across the Narrow Sea in Essos, with Meereen now a free city, Asher is close to securing the army he desperately needs to return home, and save his family. In King's Landing, Mira's activities at Tommen's coronation have not escaped the attention of Margaery Tyrell, and Cersei has realized that the handmaiden may prove useful in her political games. Finally, beyond the Wall, Gared's unlikely allies are reluctant to help in the search for the North Grove... but this far into the frozen wilds, Crows and Free Folk have a common enemy; and winter is coming.

With House Whitehill tightening its grip on Ironrath at the behest of Ramsay Bolton, the remaining Forresters must give their all to save the family, whether through diplomacy, subterfuge, or violent force. In the frozen wilds beyond the Wall, Gared learns the secrets of the mysterious North Grove, and Mira discovers that political games in a King's Landing controlled by Cersei Lannister often involve the highest stakes of all. One final note... this is definitely an episode you might want to play more than once. What is the fate of House Forrester? When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. Your choices, your story: you decide.